With Sterling Shepard's gear, Logan Ryan serves reminders to Giants entering final weeks
Logan Ryan said "This is something where you truly don't know when you'll play your last snap." Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It was pretty chilly at Giants practice on Thursday, so it came as no surprise that Logan Ryan wore gloves and a scarf on the field.
What made his cold-weather gear stand out was where it came from and whom it belonged to.
Giants safety and defensive captain Ryan plucked the items from the suddenly unoccupied locker of wide receiver Sterling Shepard, who tore his Achilles last Sunday. Ryan even held up the gloves, which had Shepard’s number 3 printed on each palm, and looked admiringly at the Jordan brand scarf.
They were reminders that, in a week in which most headlines were about the not-so-shocking decision to put starting quarterback Daniel Jones on injured reserve, another team leader was lost in a much more abrupt fashion.
They also were reminders, for Ryan and the rest of the team, that even though the Giants’ season is going nowhere, there still are three games to fight through, including Sunday’s in Philadelphia.
"There’s only one way to play this game," Ryan said. "This is something where you truly don’t know when you’ll play your last snap, you don’t know your last play. Look at a guy like Shepard who busts his butt all year, came back, had a great training camp, was great when he was playing, and you don’t get out of your stance the last play of the year. You can’t take any snap for granted."
Ryan noted that he went through something not as long-term as an Achilles tear but just as frustrating and sidelining when he tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this season. It caused him to miss games against the Bucs and the Eagles, the team he grew up rooting for in South Jersey and the team he will get to play on Sunday.
"I’ll be looking forward to giving my best effort in this game and helping my team win," he said.
While wearing Shepard’s purloined gloves?
"If Shep lets me," he said.
Notes & quotes: WR Kadarius Toney, LB Oshane Ximines and DB J.R. Reed cleared COVID protocols and rejoined the team on Thursday, but none participated in team drills after a week and a half away from the field. They spent the time during practice working with trainers. Toney was the only one activated off COVID/reserve . . . RB Gary Brightwell, a key special teams contributor, was limited after missing practice on Wednesday. Brightwell (neck) wore a red non-contact jersey . . . Joe Judge, in his last media appearance before Sunday’s game, did not name a starting quarterback. The expectation remains that Jake Fromm will get his first NFL start against the Eagles.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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